‘‘There were very few dry eyes in the Rudd household this morning, not about what he had to say about yours truly but what he had to say about us as a movement and the importance of owning all the good stuff we’ve done together,’’ Mr Rudd said.

"What Albo is talking about is fundamental, it’s about what unites us rather than what divides us.’’

Ms Gillard paid tribute to Mr Albanese as a "great Labor man with a great Labor heart" and said he continue to serve the party loyally as its chief parliamentary tactician.

I have despaired in recent days as I have watched Labor being devalued.

"I can't imagine a government I lead without Anthony Albanese fighting beside me."

Mr Rudd was in rare agreement.

“I’ve heard a lot of speeches in politics this is a standout from Albo. It’s from the heart it’s from the head, it’s both,” he said.

Earlier today, the Prime Minister declared she could beat Tony Abbott at the next election and likened the Opposition Leader to an overtired two-year-old having a tantrum, as one of Kevin Rudd's campaign strategists urged her not to stand in Monday's Labor leadership ballot.

Battling a series of polls that show her challenger is far more popular with voters, the Prime Minister this morning derided predictions of Labor defeat in 2013 as "lazy talk".

'I don't have a defeatist bone in my body," she told the Country Labor conference in Cessnock.

While hammering her pitch to differentiate herself from Mr Rudd - insisting only she could and had delivered Labor's vision - the Prime Minister got a welcome boost from the crowd.

"I didn't come here today to canvas your support in Monday's ballot," she said. A voice in the room yelled: "You've got it," to cheers and applause.

Meanwhile, in a dramatic intervention, strategist Bruce Hawker held a doorstop outside the Rudd family home in Brisbane and urged Ms Gillard not even to contest the ballot, noting the strong voters support for the challenger.

"She has to consider if the public is right or the backrooms and factions are right," Mr Hawker said.

Mr Hawker said MPs should look to the polls and back Mr Rudd because he was best placed to beat Mr Abbott, even as he conceded the leadership battle was damaging Labor.

The veteran Labor campaigner also declared that not everybody accepts that "Kevin Rudd to be the most delightful creature they have ever met" but that was not the best judge of who was best to be Prime Minister.